


Well Known

by LuciaWilt



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amputation, Canon-Typical Violence, Guilt, Introspection, Lots of thinking about Ishval, M/M, Mild Gore, Self-Hatred, slight - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 07:51:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11642184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuciaWilt/pseuds/LuciaWilt
Summary: “That shows you how dangerous this guy is. You should increase your escort and lay low for a while. Nobody would blame you. Please. I’m asking as your friend. You and Tucker are the only State Alchemist of note in this area right?” For a moment, Roy simply paused, staring blankly in Hughes’s direction; not really processing what he was looking at or seeing. Until his stomach dropped so hard he had to gasp for air. His face completely lost all color.“Oh no.”





	Well Known

**Author's Note:**

> If I do update this, it will be just kind of on a whim (though I really would like to continue this, if not just for a couple of chapters; nothing really too big).

Gods it wouldn’t stop raining. It was like the heavens themselves were mourning. And it made Roy furious if he were being honest. He hated the rain. It seemed like he was never meant for cold weather. The rain not only made him… incapable of using his flame alchemy, it made his joints ache as well; only rubbing in that time was so very fleeting. If it were up to him, it would never rain. It would be a desert. Maybe he was meant for the terrain of Ishval.

No. He couldn’t think about that now. Not after he just got back from seeing the crime scene of Tucker and Nina’s remains. If he started thinking about the past, his stomach would just twist and scream and he would be nauseous for the rest of the day; and it wasn’t even twelve yet. Roy sighed as he sat on one of the benches in the hallway back on the base. Damn this rain, he thought to himself. Really it would just be nice once he could go home and have a drink and sit in the dark like the sad sack he is.

He really needed a hobby.

Everything was just compounded with the Elrics. It was like a nightmare, seeing those golden eyes well up with tears Edward so intensely tried to hold back. The sixteen year old tried to hide the child that still clung so tightly to his sleeve. Edward and Alphonse. Those two had aged beyond their years. Edward, when he was being serious, acted more like Roy’s age than Roy did himself. Roy found it incredibly unfair; the Gate’s whims. How… how could that have happened to two boys that just wanted their mother back? Of course they commited a sin by transmuting human remains, but that was beside the point. After Ishval, Roy had a lot of time to think; and that’s what he had done while working at the same time. What he pondered quite a bit about was the youth of Amestris, as well as the youth of Ishval. If it were up to him, no child would ever have to face the atrocities of war ever again.

Roy blinked, however, when Hughes and Armstrong walked down the hallway. Riza straightened up some as Hughes sat, Armstrong taking a similar stance as Riza’s next to Roy’s close friend. Maes began to speak, explaining about who they expected had killed Nina and Tucker. “Scar? Because of his face?”

He nodded, though no hint of that usual humor could be found. “Yeah we don’t really know anything else about him so that’s what we call him.” Hughes sat up a bit, stretched, then rested his elbows on his knees once again. 

“Our target is both unidentified an elusive. The only information we have been able to obtain about him is that he has a large scar on his forehead.” Armstrong was the one to speak this time. Roy glanced over, watching as the giant man tapped the center of his skull, right between his blue eyes. His mustache twitched and Roy was thrown back into Ishval for a moment. That was another thing. If, and when Roy became Fuhrer, no one with a heart like Armstrong’s would be thrown on the front line ever again. The lovable giant was more suited for running a nursery or an orphanage than killing. 

Roy sighed and copied Maes’s posture, leaning forwards and pushing his hands together; looking eerily like a certain golden haired alchemist. “Yes I’ve heard stories about that man. That’s who you are trying to hunt down.” It was more just…just something to say, something to fill the quiet air. His stomach was churning so horribly that he thought he would vomit if he didn’t say something. It was like poison was in the air, making Roy want to pass out. Did nobody else feel that? Could nobody else feel the storm cloud that was almost on top of them? 

“By order of the military police command center. Meanwhile all my other work is piling up. Ugh my head hurts.” A typical type of Hughes response to dealing with killers. The man was in investigations so he had to deal with it often. Roy presumed that was why he was always doting on his wife and daughter. They were like medicine to Hughes. Will I ever find that, Roy thought to himself; watching the two men across the hall from him. 

“He’s killed five people in central. All state alchemist. His body count nationwide is up to ten.” Armstrong said with a pointed look of pain crossing his face. What Hughes said next made Roy’s stomach flip. “Five days ago he took down old man Grand.”

“The Brigadier General? But he’s an expert in weapons transmutation!” Roy gasped and even Hawkeye tensed next to him. Immediately, as if Scar was in the room with them, she moved an inch closer to Roy’s side.

“That shows you how dangerous this guy is. You should increase your escort and lay low for a while. Nobody would blame you. Please. I’m asking as your friend. You and Tucker are the only state alchemist of note in this area right?” For a moment, Roy simply paused, staring blankly in Hughes’s direction; not really processing what he was looking at or seeing. Until his stomach dropped so hard he had to gasp for air. His face completely lost all color. 

“Oh no.”

Fullmetal.

Edward.

~’~

As they followed the destruction that seemed to follow wherever Edward went, Roy felt himself become colder and colder, not even from the rain either. This wasn’t normal. Sure Edward could be destructive, but there was a certain containment about it. It was directed and forceful into one pinpoint. This was destruction almost just for that purpose. To tear things down and kill. 

Turn after turn they took on the rainy roads until he nearly tripped over his own feet. At first he thought it was too late. His pale skin went sheet white at the amount of blood that was still there, still pooling around the young golden haired boy through the rain. Roy heard the sounds of Alphonse shouts coming from an alleyway as Scar stepped over Edward’s body, a foot on either side. Edward looked absolutely tiny, completely broken; and probably… no.

When he got out of the car, he could see that Edward’s chest was moving, if just slightly. Without a second thought he lifted his weapon and shot into the air, causing Scar to look over his shoulder. Get him away. Get him away. Get him away. Get him away from Full metal. That was the only thing going through Roy’s head. 

And by the end of it all, they found out that Scar was actually an Ishvalian that which, if Roy were being honest, explained quite a bit. The hunting of State Alchemist, the weapons that destroyed Scar’s people. It almost made him want Scar to turn around and take him down. But not Edward. No. Edward had just been a small child when the war was going on. 

“Brother!” Speaking of. With Scar gone through the sewers and the rain still pouring from overhead, Roy sprinted towards the prone boy. He hadn’t moved through the entire thing, even as Hawkeyes gently rolled him over. 

A part of Roy wanted to roll him back, imagine that what he was seeing wasn’t actually what was there. But it was. And he had to accept that; as much as he really wanted Scar to turn around and finish at least the Flame Alchemist off. As though his ears were full of water and cotton, Hawkeye’s voice was muffled as she shouted to call for a medic. 

He did this. Roy was to blame for this. Sure Scar had used the alchemy, but if Roy hadn’t recruited Edward to the military, he would still have at least one of his original arms.

In the battle, Scar had taken both; metal and flesh alike. The rain was washing away the blood from the stump, but more blood continued to flow from it. He had no idea what he was doing, not even noticing what he was doing, as he took the blonde from Hawkeye. He didn’t hear the sounds she made either. Not with Edward leaning against his chest. Bile had dripped from his lips, obviously from the pain of having your arm literally exploded off your body. 

He did this. Roy did this. All he could do was curl the boy closer to his chest, not even caring as blood soaked his uniform. No. As much as they bit at each other and scowled and kicked and screamed, Edward…Edward had wormed his way past Roy’s walls. The older male felt weak, yet so incredibly invincible at the same time with the blonde around. 

Mustang was a horribly emotional man. Not that you could notice on first glance. Only those, Hawkeye and Hughes in particular, close enough could see. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to care that his image was being shattered as he curled Edward closer to him, tucking his own face into the crook of Edward’s neck. God he was so cold. Roy didn’t think twice to quickly wrap Edward in his jacket before cradling the blonde to his chest again as though he were some precious jewel.

 _He is. He is a precious jewel._ Something in his mind said as he nearly started rocking back and forth.

Only when Hughes’s strong grasp on his shoulder shocked him out of it did Roy look up. Thankfully it was still raining so hard or else everyone would see and know truly why Roy’s eyes were slightly red. 

Somehow he was able to understand that the medics were there. While he wanted to go with Edward, to hold the young man in his arms as they drove to the hospital, he knew; somehow he knew that he was needed more where he was. Not to mention Alphonse was still sitting in the alleyway with Hawkeye and Havoc kneeling beside him.

“What the hell happened here?” His hearing was coming back. No longer was it muffled by cotton, whiskey, blood, and misery. He glanced at Hughes out of the corner of his eye. “I wouldn’t even begin to know how to explain Edward, and his younger brother.” Roy knew. He knew about it since before Edward even joined the military. He knew about it since the first time he made the trip out to the country to meet the prodigies he expected to be in their twenties, not a broken child. 

Roy could only hum out a strangled noise as he made his way over to Alphonse. The boy was obviously shaken. You didn’t have to be able to read the non-emotive face. Anybody that was that connected to their brother would be; after seeing him nearly die. Did Alphonse think that? Think that Edward was dead? He knelt down beside Hawkeye and Havoc, telling them to start collecting all the pieces of Alphonse wrecked suit. Edward would need it when he transmuted it back. “Alphonse, Edward was taken to the hospital.” Alphonse looked up at the sound of his voice.

Those blank eyes glanced down and saw that his black overcoat was gone; probably saw Roy curl around Edward like the blonde had been a stuffed animal he didn’t want to part with. “Thank you Colonel.” Alphonse’s tinny voice was quiet. “Thank you.” He said again and it just made Mustang’s stomach clench. He physically started to sweat when he held back the vomit. Would do no one any good if he threw up on Alphonse in the state he was in.

“Now we need to get you out of here as well.”

“He just…”

“What?” Alphonse had spoken up, but faded out. The three soldiers looked at him intently, waiting for him to continue. 

“That man. He just…Brother’s arm. It just exploded.” Roy was stunned at Alphonse’s strength. To be able to say it, to not deny what had happened; he was stronger than Roy that was for sure.

“I know Al.” He needed familiarity at the moment and that’s what Roy could give him. “I know. We need to get you to the hospital. Hawkeye and Havoc are going to help you.” And to be casual with his subordinates as strange as that was. He could see the uncomfortable shift on Havoc’s part at being called by just his last name. But this was Alphonse. A child. A child that just saw his older brother almost get killed. He needed warmth and love, even though he couldn’t physically feel it.

Once his men got Al into the car and drove off, he stood. 

All he had to do now was ward off the pull and physical ache of wanting to run to Edward. He would sprint through the rain all the way to the hospital if he had to. But he had a job to do that wouldn’t just do itself. 


End file.
